The Betrayed
by Lisa Smithers
Summary: During a routine battle, Mike is kidnapped by a nighlock and pulled into the gap. How will he react when not everything is as it seems, and that nighlock seems so familiar... When he sees the Nether World for what it is, another world, his view of the war becomes a little blurred. Now the good guys don't seem so good, and the bad guys don't seem so bad after all.
1. Chapter 1

**Mike's Pov**

One second I'm fighting and the next thing I know I'm being pulled though a gap into the Nether World. I had to admit I was terrified. From what I had been told, the very air in the Nether World was poisonous.

I spent a surprisingly long time in the gap. I hadn't thought about the fact that it might take time for nighlock to travel from place to place. I had always assumed that the gaps were like teleporters. Huh.

After a few minutes in the gap, I gradually lost my fear and got bored. I decided to explore a little ways. Being careful to note where I was in relation to where I was going, I walked a little ways.

I saw a red portal in front of me. I cautiously stuck a hand through, then pulled it back out. Well, it didn't hurt. I decided to take a chance, and I stuck my head through. I looked around to find that I was in the middle of town. I pulled my head back in.

"So the gap isn't a teleportation device." I mused, "It's more like a hallway, an underground tunnel."

"I'm proud of you Michael." A voice said, "You are more intelligent than most realize."

I froze. That voice. I knew that voice. I dug into those memories in the back of my brain, the ones I barely remember, but I still couldn't figure out who owned that voice.

I slowly turned around. I looked up to see a man that looked disturbingly similar to me. The hair, the size, the skin tone, the facial expressions, but most of all- the eyes. Forest green. The exact same shade as mine. The man was older than me though; it was almost like looking into a mirror of the future.

* * *

 **Jayden's pov**

I just told Ji what happened.

"That is strange..." Ji mused, "They must have taken him to the Nether World. As bait, maybe."

"If it's bait, they didn't think it out very well." I said, "We don't know how to get into the Nether world, and another hour and he'd be dead because of the air anyway."

"True, but we have no idea what the nighlock are doing to him." Emily said, "They could be torturing him."

"Em's got a point, but could be dead already." Mia said.

"In fact, he could be really, really dead, if you know what I mean."

"Or he could be alive and captured." Emily combated, "Maybe in some sort of a holding cell."

"So there's two ways he could be alive." I said, "He's been captured and they're holding him, or he's changed sides. There are two ways he's dead. Tortured, or by the poisonous air."

After several minutes of bitter argument, the rangers had taken sides. Kevin and Mia considered it too great a risk to go in after him. We could easily lose more rangers in the process of attempting to rescue him, putting ourselves in an even worse situation.

Emily thought, and I had a tendency to agree, that we couldn't just leave Mike down there when he could be suffering to a degree beyond our imaginations. I also saw Kevin and Mia's point though, and had to validate it whether I liked it or not. We couldn't just go in there blindly, especially when there was no guarantee Mike would still be alive, and that's exactly what we'd be doing if we went in now.

I realized it all came down to which we valued more: Mike, or the mission. The argument quickly escalated, getting louder and louder until I couldn't tell whose voice was whose. Finally, I snapped. I then came up with what was quite possibly the worst idea I'd ever had. But it was the only solution I could think of that didn't result on the rangers permanently turning on each other. The only way to keep that from happening was leaving it to fate.

Flipping a coin.

* * *

 **Mystery man's pov**

I saw a tinge of bitterness in Michael's eyes when I showed him select parts of what the other rangers were doing to decide whether or not to look for him. Thankfully, he had no way of knowing what the rangers were thinking, and he hadn't seen their fighting before hand. I smirked. My plan was working.

* * *

 **Mike's pov**

I wasn't surprised at how the other rangers were acting, but I was surprised the man knew.

"So, what exactly are you? A half nighlock, like Dekker?"I asked. Usually, I wouldn't sit down and chat with someone who had technically kidnapped me, but he wasn't tying me up or anything like that. It was weird.

"No, I am full nighlock." The man said, "I gave up my human life completely."

"But... you look human." I said, "Full nighlock plus human body doesn't add up."

"Oh, right. Rare case actually." He said, "I have both a nighlock and human body, even though I am now full nighlock."

A moment of silence passed, but oddly enough it was a comfortable silence. I didn't feel threatened by this nighlock, and that in and of itself was creeping me out a little. The man/nighlock reached out, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Relax. I mean you no harm." The familiarity of it was almost making my head explode. It was like deja vu, but not. I knew his voice, his touch. I knew this guy, I knew him in his human form.

"So you do remember..." the nighlock said.

If I hadn't known any better, I would have said I saw a twinge of pride in the nighlock's eyes.

"Wait..." my breath locked in my through. "D-Dad?!"

* * *

 _ **A/N: Wow, wasn't that a bombshell for a first chapter? Hadn't meant to let that slip out that early, but you know what? Still fits, doesn't it? It's all good. Not sure what I think of nighlock dad though. Kind of creepy still.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Been awhile, but I'm back. Here we go!**_

* * *

 _ **JAYDEN's POV**_

"Heads we go, tails we don't." I said. I hated doing this. Putting a life to the flip of a coin, but I could think of no better option. It was simply too dangerous to go after him, yet I couldn't rest knowing I hadn't even given the idea a chance. Everyone understood. Everyone nodded.

I flipped the coin. My throat clenched.

"Tails. We don't go."

"So basically we're just down a ranger?" Kevin asked.

"Unless he figures out how to get back on his own, then yes."

* * *

 _ **MIKE'S POV**_

It was Dad. It was really him. But - how?

"But..." I began, "You were a samurai. Why did you switch sides?"

"I suppose I had less patience than you." Dad answered, "The old team treated me the same way the new one treats you. I eventually got sick of it. I ran away, and Serrator found me. Offered me a deal, and I took it. The nighlock treat me a whole lot better than the team ever did." I thought about it a moment. It made a lot more sense than I would have liked it to.

"Let's get out of the gap." Dad stood. "I've never liked it in here, it gets creepy after a bit."

He gave me a hand up. I couldn't remember the last time one of the rangers had done that.

I followed Dad through a red portal, and next thing I knew, I was looking at the netherworld. For a moment, I was alarmed, but then everything fell into place. The timeline, Dad must have turned nighlock before I was born, which meant by extension -

"No way."

"What?" Dad asked, glancing at me.

"I- I'm half nighlock," I stuttered, "aren't I?"

"You are pretty quick." Dad smirked. "Yes, you're what we call a halfling. Very rare, and very powerful."

I ran my hand through some of the Sanzu water on a hunch.

"That's why the water doesn't hurt me." I thought aloud, "Same thing with the air."

"That's correct, you're immune to it, just as nighlock." Dad nodded, "And believe it or not, it tastes surprisingly like fruit punch."

I knelt and took a sip. It did. The Hawaiian brand.

"Weird."

"Very," Dad agreed.

A thought occurred to me.

"To become nighlock, you would have had to give up your symbol power." I said, "And I was born after you turned nighlock. So how do I have symbol power?"

"Any symbol power you have is purely through your own energy. You have very little connection to the bloodline." Dad answered. "I'm actually 999/1000ths nighlock, but for all intents and purposes, I'm full. That 1/1000 human, that's what makes it possible for you to possess symbol power. The other rangers got their symbol power hand-me-down from their parents. Their strength is added to their parent's strength. Your symbol power is nearly equal, but it's all from you."

Dad led me down the roads, and what I saw surprised me. I saw a basketball court, a playground, and a school. It had never occurred to me that nighlock had to be children at one time. I watched them play basketball, and to my surprise, baby nighlocks were actually kind of cute.

Dad led me into what looked like a forest, but I didn't recognize a single one of the plants.

"I didn't know they had forests in the Netherworld."

"Yep, there's a few forests here and there." Dad answered, "I liked it here, so this is where I built my house."

We walked through aways and eventually came to a house that, even I had to admit, was pretty awesome. Tree houses are always awesome.

It looked like a relatively normal house, but the style was strange. Not something I would have chosen for myself, but hey, to each his own. We took a seat on the couch.

"Question and answer time?" I asked.

Dad nodded. "I'm sure there's a lot of them."

"How many halflings are there?" I asked.

"As far as we know, you're the first natural." Dad answered, "Dekker chose to be half, and was made so through a spell. You're the only to have ever been born by a human and a nighlock."

"Why does Xandred attack?" I asked, "What is he wanting?"

"It's Master Xandred around here, kiddo." Dad said, but continued, "We're running out of room. There's getting to be more nighlock than will fit. He wants more land. He doesn't wish to harm the humans, but that's necessary to get the land."

Again, this made way more sense than I would have liked it to.

"So, why do they need the Sanzu to rise?"

"Only if the Sanzu rises will we be able to survive out there." Dad answered, "We don't like tears or screams any more than any human, but it's the only way to make the river rise."

"So... They've had it wrong, all these years?"

"Yep," Dad nodded, "Now we can catch up later. Master Xandred wanted to see you as soon as I managed to get you here. I'm pushing it taking long as I have. I didn't want you going in there clueless though."

* * *

Dad led me through the doors of what looked like a palace. The color scheme was a little darker than was normal in the human world, but it actually looked pretty nice. I didn't' know what I had been expecting it to look like, but it looked relatively normal. Well, medieval type normal, anyway. Most of the passage ways were torch lit, but I could see that there was a way to use electrical lights as well. The colors red, black, and brown were used in abundance, with a bit of silver sprinkled here ant there throughout. All and all, beautiful, really.

 _'Xandred must have good interior decorators.'_ I thought.

We walked into a throne room, and I could see Xandred from a distance. Strangely enough, I didn't feel fear in his presence. Instead, I felt comfortable, relaxed. I found that fact, in and of itself, quite disturbing. As we moved closer, I sensed an aura of power radiating from him, just as I had felt when first meeting Jayden. I instinctively bowed. My father did the same.

"My son, Master Xandred." Dad said, rising from his bow, "You called for him."

"So I did." Master Xandred said, in a surprisingly pleasant voice, "Please, come closer."

I inched forward until I was about seven feet away.

"Master," I said, bowing again. It was then I realized what I had done. I had called Xandred Master. But it just felt right.

"Rise." Master Xandred said, "Such respect for the enemy is not common."

 _"I'm not so sure we're enemies."_

The words were wet like silver on my tongue.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Woah! Didn't see that coming, he's changing sides so easily... Or is he? Even if he is, can you really blame him? The rangers are flipping a coin over his life. If ONLY he could read their thoughts and see the processes going through their minds, Jayden's specifically, really, then maybe he would understand. Or maybe not. It's still a jerk move, Jayden, sorry, but man up and make a decision yourself for once.**_


End file.
